By Jan W. Steenblik, Technical Editor
Air Line Pilot, April 2004, p.26

Whenever the airline industry is struggling
financially—such as now—the concern that airline managements might cut corners
on safety to save money rises anew. The central air safety chairman (CASC) of
each ALPA pilot group is in the best position to know if that’s happening. As
the title indicates, the CASC is the pilot who serves as the point of contact
for line pilots, airline management, and the rest of ALPA concerning safety
matters.

At the most recent meeting of ALPA’s Operations
Committee (OPSCOM), roundtable discussion of the state of aviation safety at
individual airlines was a major topic of discussion.

ALPA’s OPSCOM is a key component of the ALPA Air Safety
Structure. OPSCOM’s mission is to promote safety of flight operations throughout
the U.S. and Canadian airline industry by providing line pilot input into ALPA
safety activities.

The OPSCOM is composed of the CASCs of each ALPA pilot
group (ALPA currently represents the pilots of 42 airlines in the United States
and Canada). Providing a forum for grassroots representation of safety issues
into the ALPA International safety structure, the OPSCOM directly represents the
safety interests of the ALPA master executive councils and their pilot members.

"During the 1980s and early 1990s, ALPA grew into an
association representing more than 60,000 pilots with an ever-growing and
diverse set of needs," explains Capt. Mitchell Serber (Comair), nearing the end
of his second 4-year term as the OPSCOM chairman. "As a result, many ALPA MEC
central air safety committees became more autonomous as they pursued their
individual interests.

"In 1992, the ALPA’s Air Safety Structure leaders,
seeing a need to create a forum for the CASCs to review safety issues and
recommend ALPA positions and policies, created the OPSCOM," Capt. Serber
continues. "The OPSCOM chairman became a standing member of the ALPA Steering
and Oversight Committee (SOC), which forms and directs ALPA project teams to
achieve our air safety goals.

"By creating a venue that fostered development of
unified positions on issues of common interest, we acknowledged our safety
structure’s deep ties to our CASC’s, our executive air safety leaders, and the
synergy created by the OPSCOM. Capt. Dave Haase (TWA, now retired), the ALPA
Executive Air Safety Chairman at that time, and John O’Brien, the director of
ALPA’s Engineering and Air Safety Department, provided visionary leadership in
creating the OPSCOM."

In 1999, the OPSCOM role was enhanced so that the group
was recognized as the "customer" of the ALPA Air Safety Structure. The concept
emphasized that the Association’s aviation safety mission should be guided in
part by issues generated from the CASCs who bring to the table a real-time
awareness of line pilots’ safety concerns. The OPSCOM now has an integral role
in determining the direction of ALPA’s safety resources.

The OPSCOM meets at least twice each year and deals with
agenda items that individual CASCs bring before it. Additionally, the OPSCOM has
hosted guest speakers from government and industry to debate current aviation
safety issues.

The OPSCOM has proven to be fertile ground, generating
interest in development of ALPA’s One Level of Safety campaigns and the Critical
Incident Response Program (see page 22). Most recently, ALPA’s initiative to
promote aviation safety through the Safety Management System (SMS) philosophy
traces its beginnings to grassroots input from a CASC to the OPSCOM.

Most of the ALPA Air Safety Structure project teams work
under one of five subject-matter technical groups that mirror the structure of
the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations and the
International Civil Aviation Organization. The groups are Aircraft Design and
Operations, Airport and Ground Environment, Air Traffic Services, Human
Factors/Training, and Accident Analysis.

OPSCOM agenda items that are not resolved internally may
be directed through the SOC to the appropriate group or project team for further
action. The OPSCOM chairman is a standing member of the SOC and thus
participates directly with ALPA’s executive safety leaders in promoting the
Association’s safety goals.

The OPSCOM also oversees the FOQA/ASAP (Flight
Operations Quality Assurance/Aviation Safety Action Partnership) Project Team
and the Cargo Safety Project Team—two safety project teams that do not fall
under the purview of any of the five technical groups. Capt. John Buchan
(Continental) chairs the FOQA/ASAP Project Team—a major responsibility of the
OPSCOM—with Capt. Don McClure (Eastern, Ret.) providing staff support. The FOQA/ASAP
Project Team is the central point of contact for all ALPA pilot groups whose
airlines are participating in these cooperative safety-enhancement programs.

ASAP has revolutionized the way the FAA and
participating carriers deal with events that expose flight crews to potential
FAA enforcement action. ASAP gathers and deidentifies event information that
previously went undiscovered. "Where we once were looking at the tip of the
iceberg," says Capt. Serber, "now we are able to take a look deep below the
waterline." Working through a consensus model, ASAP programs are nonpunitive and
emphasize understanding and solving systemic problems, thereby enhancing safety.
In return for providing deidentified event reports to ASAP, pilots benefit from
the educational value as well as the nonpunitive nature of the program.

FOQA focuses on deidentified flight data to bring to
light safety concerns throughout the U.S. air transportation system—including
aircraft operations and air traffic control. Aggregate data gathered from FOQA
programs have been used successfully to resolve aircraft operational issues and
ATC procedural issues.

Another benefit of FOQA is the potential savings in
aircraft maintenance for participating airlines—savings significant enough to
make FOQA programs financially attractive to airlines.

The ASAP/FOQA Project Team has provided invaluable help
to ALPA pilot groups who have worked with their company’s management to set up
ASAP on their airline. The OPSCOM believes that all ALPA pilots should be
advocates of FOQA/ASAP programs. OPSCOM strongly encourages any CASC whose
airline does not yet have these programs to contact the FOQA/ASAP Project Team
to help them get started.

The Cargo Safety Project Team, headed by ASTAR Air Cargo
CASC Capt. Ken Young, is working to achieve "One Level of Safety" for cargo
operations, as ALPA did in the 1990s for FAR Part 135 passenger operations. The
ALPA team was a driving force in the NTSB’s decision to hold its recently
successfully completed Air Cargo Safety Forum, which Safety Board Chairman Ellen
Engleman Conners announced in August 2003 at the ALPA Air Safety Forum. Many
hours of work by project team volunteers, supported by ALPA staff, resulted in
ALPA making a dozen presentations at the NTSB Air Cargo Safety Forum.

Any ALPA member may peruse the history of the OPSCOM’s
past work by logging onto the Members Only section of the ALPA website,
www.alpa.org; clicking on "Air Safety" under "ALPA Committees" at that page; and
then clicking on "Operations Committee."

Some of the interesting special issues have included
inadequate MMEL protection against inoperative thrust reversers; cosmic
radiation, especially regarding polar routes; a proposal (blocked by ALPA) to
build a sports stadium near PHX; several problems with charting and instrument
procedures—engine-out departures without DME, extended climb gradients, lack of
national standards for RNP approaches, minimum vectoring altitudes for obstacle
clearance, and circling approaches; APU fuel leaks on a small jet;
smoke/fire/fumes procedures; problems with complying with an airworthiness
directive on B-737/757 center fuel tanks; taxi incidents involving mechanics at
the controls; and inconsistent/inadequate guidance for dealing with inoperative
nosewheel steering.

During the OPSCOM’s recent discussion of safety at
individual airlines, "basically, we surveyed every CASC at the meeting," Capt.
Serber recalls. "Our initial angle was, ‘Since the FAA mandated that every
airline have a director of safety, reporting directly to the CEO, has that
changed at your airline? How’s your working relationship with your management’s
safety structure?’

"We found some things that surprised us," he admits. "A
lot of airlines are still doing it right. Some airlines are increasing their
safety efforts. In most cases, we see tangible increases on the flight
operations side—at both large and small airlines."

However, Capt. Serber notes, "We talked about two
carriers that are in Chapter 11 [bankruptcy organization]. One is staying the
course and maintaining—or improving—the status quo in safety. The other is
struggling some. The ALPA representatives from that airline at the OPSCOM
meeting said that the margin of safety has definitely eroded. We’re going to get
an ad hoc project team to put the data together and prepare a report."

Another current issue is mixed-fleet flying. Current
ALPA policy opposes it. Boeing, however, has floated proposals to establish it
for some of its airplane types. "Do we have a safety issue with this?" asks
Capt. Serber. "We are participating very closely in preliminary tests of one of
the specific Boeing proposals. Delta is conducting trials with 40 pilots to see
if mixing B-777 and B-767-400 flying is reasonable. As [Capt.] Bill Jones [Delta
CASC] says, ‘Airbus has the common cockpit; Boeing is trying to build the common
pilot.’ We’re keeping our eye on this. After we get the data, we’ll look at it
very carefully before we develop our position on this."